Comments:Plus the new Magnum is played by a Hispanic! Why not? We have a white guy, a black guy, a chick, so of course we can’t have another white guy. Make Magnum Hispanic! Or Korean! Gotta push ahead with that diversity bit, fellas. Otherwise we won’t be able to sleep at night.

I read a while back on the KNIGHT RIDER board on IMDB (when the boards were still operational) one reviewer who caught this one episode of the 80s show and this reviewer was mortified because Michael Knight jokingly called 2 comical Chinese karate goons “the eggroll brothers”. Apparently this sensitive individual was so mortally wounded by such a “racist” remark that he immediately turned the show off and vowed never to watch another episode. He explained that he couldn’t believe that there was a time when terribly racist things like this were aired on prime time TV. And there you have it folks - political correctness run amok! Young kids growing up and being groomed to take offense to everything and to basically lead lives devoid of any humor or fun. Needless to say this comment raised A LOT of eyebrows from those of us who grew up with these shows and who never saw any racism in them. It’s all just harmless fun. Unfortunately the new generation doesn’t understand this term. Talk about a HUGE generation gap. And I’m still in my 30s too!

As expected it has the usual over-the-top Fast and Furious nonsense that Lenkov is famous for. Plus Justin Lin (the F&F director) is directing the pilot. There's a character named Nuzo who's a buddy of theirs from the war who gets killed (in the original show Nuzo was played by James Whitmore, Jr. and appeared in the famous Ivan episode, not the pilot) and of course Magnum and his pals set out to investigate their friend's murder. This is actually similar to the pilot of the original show where their Vietnam war buddy Dan Cook (Allen Williams) is murdered and Magnum sets out to investigate. But that's pretty much where the similarity ends. Higgins is a woman who is a karate expert and can kick butt???? Yeah ok. It's nice to see the dogs, the Ferrari 308, and the chopper back, but as expected the spirit of the original is not there. How can it be?? It doesn't have the original cast nor the restraint that is required. It's all slam-bang-thank-you-ma'am type of nonsense. It's just another Five-Zero. Bottom line - it's Lenkov.

Added: May 17 2018 07:18:32 PM

Submitted byName: ringfire211From: Philadelphia

Comments:Looks like ABC has cancelled DESIGNATED SURVIVOR. Netflix is looking to possibly pick it up for further seasons. I don’t watch the show. Michael J. Fox has joined the show (and Kim Raver of “24” fame) and I saw that one episode with them but it’s not enough to keep me watching.

Added: May 17 2018 07:31:55 AM

Submitted byName: ringfire211From: Philadelphia

Comments:Well, I’ll definitely check out the pilot (as I did with Five-Zero) but probably won’t bother after that. Curiosity is a strange thing. I especially want to see the new Higgins.

Comments:I'm sure it's gonna be just another stupid action show. Lenkov doesn't know anything else. The original MAGNUM PI was about as action-oriented as an 80-year-old grandma. It was a very laid-back show. If someone fired a gun once during an episode that was *something*. Folks didn't watch it for the action. They watched (and I watch) it for the chemistry between the leads, the humor, the Ferrai, TC's chopper, Robin's Nest, Higgins, Zeus and Apollo (don't look at the dogs!!), and just the laid-back atmosphere of Oahu on the windward side of the isle. Oh, and the occasional darker-themed episode like the one with Bo Svenson as Ivan or Kenneth Tigar as the serial killer "The Ripper". Every once in a while an episode would have a really cool twist that you never saw coming, but when it happened it was totally earned. Not like on these reboots where there's a stupid twist like every 5 minutes.

Reboots suck. Why? Because they can never capture the essence of the original.

Added: May 15 2018 06:51:04 PM

Submitted byName: Mr. MikeFrom: Vancouver

Comments:Magnum Mania (discussion board) on the new Magnum PI -- they love it, they hate it.

I think that is kind of what we've been saying though is that Magnum never went around saying "I'm a SEAL" or even anything remotely close to that. He never advertised it and very few episodes even referenced it. It was such a minor part of the show. Now the veteran aspect and camaraderie between war buddies was a huge part but Magnum wasn't going on night raids and shooting machine guns every episode. I and many others on here I presume,would just hate to see a Magnum reboot that is essentially another (new) Hawaii 5 O with senseless action horrible plots and flashy things to try to catch your attention. So to bring it back in Tom Sellecks stature was enough, he didn't have to advertise that he was a badass Navy SEAL nor did he want too. Magnum wanted to distance himself from his service and prove he could make it his own way with his own rules.

=====

Everyone is entitled to their opinion.....I give it [H50 reboot] a bad to okay rating at best.....great, no way! The storylines are so weak and fluffy at times you just shake your head and roll your eyes! The odd time they are decent and you think okay, they are getting it together, but the next episode just stinks. Yes, it has been going on for 8 seasons so it has its followers and some luck too because it shouldn't have lasted that long. Yes, I tune in to watch a bit of Hawaii in the background and then I usually fast forward through the show especially when Steve and Danno start bickering like an old couple....just awful (IMO).

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Everything you say about the current Hawaii 5-0 is true. However it is also true that it is the most successful reboot in tv history [WHAT?!?!?!?!? - MQ]. Therefore the suits at CBS will apply the same formula to Magnum PI because they couldn't give a toss about keeping the spirit of the original.

They probably viewed at most a 15 minute highlight reel of original Magnum car chases, hot babe guest stars and a out of context look at Magnum killing Ivan that likely elicited a "Bro, that's hard core" response from the 20 something execs who could not, if their lives depended on it, ever understand the Band of Brothers bond that existed between Magnum, TC, Rick and Higgins.

Kenji, the reboot is going to be a legendary disaster, and the only reason it would run more than a month is because CBS will pray the ratings pick up to offset all the start up costs for filming in Hawaii.

I look forward to the new threads that will appear on Magnum Mania mere moments after the pilot episode is shown, thread titles such as "Magnum PU", "Never Again, Never Again, Dear God in Heaven Never Again", "The Jororo Kill? Kill Me!", "Did You See the Sunrise? No, I Tore My Eyes Out To Make Sure I Never Watch This Crud Again", "The Big Blow" and fittingly, to describe how long the reboot will last, "Limited Engagement".

If I am wrong I will gladly donate my first born, my Spiro Agnew autographed tennis ball I got for 50 cents at a garage sale, and my cat to the Magnum Mania Board of Directors, and I highly value the cat as she is a first class mouser.

Comments:The Takers is a masterpiece Streets Of San Francisco. I wonder if it's the 1st episode filmed. Has a different feel to the episode. The Apartment complex was out of sight with the cool music, swimming pool, window glass. I would have loved to live there. Beautiful people too. Mask Of Death was a real masterpiece. John Davidson became that character. Incredible episode from start to finish! Stunning work! There's some other great episodes. The Glass Dart Board with the PERT chart and the sniper. Letters From The Grave I thought was intelligently done. The Most Likely To Succeed is close to perfection. Poor kid wasn't allowed to fail. I can't blame the teacher because he gave him a chance at make-up work. Season 5 was given a fair shake and I was happy to see some quality marks to Monkey Is Back and others. Hope you Classic HFO fans and Streets SF enthusiasts enjoyed Mother's Day in some form or fashion. JC

Added: May 13 2018 10:02:42 PM

Submitted byName: ringfire211From: Philadelphia

Comments:SOSF score for today: “Before I Die” by Duane Tatro, who scored the Five-O episode “Clash of Shadows”.

Comments:The pages on the French site for Kojak and Streets of SF have a section called "Bilan," which means "balance sheet," where they list the overall ratings for each season and their favorite episodes for each season.

A Killing in the Second House - Chantage à la mort. Acts of Desperate Men - Acte de désespoir Cross Your Heart and Hope to Die - Amour fou Elegy in an Asphalt Graveyard - Vengeance de femme Slay Ride – Défenestration The Best War in Town - La guerre des gangs

Comments:The French site started with reviews of The Avengers. Mrs. Peel used to wear boots, so that is what they use instead of "stars."

Added: April 22 2018 08:11:02 PM

Submitted byName: ringfire211From: Philadelphia

Comments:I largely agree with this guy on SOSF. He gives 4 “boots” (why boots??) to my favorite episodes like “Act of Duty”, “The Takers”, “Beyond Vengeance”, “For the Love of God”, etc. and rightly only 1 boot to “Trout in the Milk” which is a big turkey!!

Comments:Another thing that drives me up the wall about Designated Survivor is the fact that they must have a special contract with the company which makes the Steadicam. I know there is a very elaborate set for the show which virtually duplicates the Oval Office, among other things (this is discussed in a featurette in the season one DVD set). But you can bet there are going to be several reverse tracking shots in every show as the characters walk down hallways, probably to show off this set!

Added: March 17 2018 08:51:17 AM

Submitted byName: ringfire211From: Philadelphia

Comments:Mike, I agree with you that as the season went on I liked it less and less. I think it was around the mid-point after the assassination attempt on President Kirkman, or maybe after the bad guy VP is found out and ends up killing himself, that the season started slowly losing my interest. It got pretty dumb with tracking down some rich patriot dude who's trying to take back America (and I guess who's behind it all) and then something about some underground bunkers in the middle of Wyoming (or wherever) with some old Soviet nukes or something. It got really weird and convoluted pretty quickly. The rest was just the usual DC politics which I don't care about.

Not that I was really drawn into the show from the start to begin with. I have to admit that I tuned into the very first episode because it's another Kiefer show, plus the premise sort of sounded like 24 and the idea of the destruction of the Capitol and the "designated survivor" was pretty intriguing, which I think it was for maybe 2 or 3 episodes. But after that I quickly realized that this wasn't going to be anywhere near as exciting or suspenseful as 24. As for the cliffhangers at the end of the episodes, unlike on 24 where you could be assured that there would be a great payoff at the start of the next episode, this is not the case with this show. It's just a cheap trick because the next episode begins and it's as if nothing major happened at the end of the previous episode. Yawn!

As for Kiefer it's just not the same watching him play this very courteous and civil "nice guy". To me he will always be the ultimate TV badass Jack Bauer. You'll note, however, that he still has a lot of those same facial ticks and expressions that he had as Bauer. I'm not even sure if that's a Kiefer thing or not. Seems more like a Bauer thing. I guess that character is just so ingrained in him that it's hard to shed it now. As for the Seth Wright character yes his quirkiness can get annoying after a while (they added an even more quirky and sarcastic character in the second season, who's basically a super genius) but unfortunately that's how they write a lot of characters these days. We fans of older show tend to get annoyed by characters like these because we're not used to them. I'm sure real people at the White House don't act this way. Seth is played by Kal Penn who you might recall played the "friendly" terrorist neighbor Ahmed in season 6 of "24".

Added: March 13 2018 09:14:08 PM

Submitted byName: Mr. MikeFrom: Vancouver

Comments:I got the first season of Designated Survivor from the library and binge-watched it. Technically it is very interesting, because the show is made in Toronto, and a lot of the views of Washington, D.C., like the buildings, the destroyed Capitol, etc., were done with CGI. In one episode, the president goes to a NATO meeting which "just happens" to be in Toronto, so they actually get to use real landmarks in the city during that show.

This show is like a primer for people who don't know anything about how the American government works, especially behind the scenes. I found I liked it less as the season went on. In every episode there is some BIG CRISIS, usually leading to a cliffhanger, which got to be too much like "24" and similar shows.

I liked the secondary story about the conspiracy by right-wing crackpots, and Maggie Q (whose last name is the same as mine) provided some ass-kicking action. Too bad she couldn't be on Five-Zero! There seem to be several thinly-veiled references to the current political scene in the USA, including the "motto" of the right-wingers ("We Will Take America Back"), as well as issues like gun control and Syrian refugees.

It is difficult to take Kiefer Sutherland as the president in this show seriously after "24," because in that series, he was just MAD (i.e., angry) about 95% of the time playing Jack Bauer. In DS, he is far too "nice," and gets really MAD very infrequently. Aside from the crises, there are only governmental issues for him to freak out about, i.e., negotiating to get his way, etc. His big speech in the final first season episode was silly. The way the part of the press secretary Seth Wright is written also got on my nerves after a while.

The ratings for the second season are VERY BAD, by the way. In fact, after the first few shows of the first season, the ratings dropped quite a bit.

Added: March 13 2018 08:25:18 AM

Submitted byName: ringfire211From: Philadelphia

Comments:I thought DESIGNATED SURVIVOR had potential and I did watch the first season but towards the end it got too convoluted and nonsensical. I also find all the political stuff to be pretty dull. I loved all the political stuff on “24” because there was great suspense mixed in which often connected to Jack’s storyline. But on this show it’s just typical political stuff like passing bills, forming various coalitions, stepping on toes, and stuff like that. It’s what I imagine THE WEST WING was like, a show which I never really cared to watch.

I agree that season 7 was the last great season of “24”. Great villains - Jon Voight, Tony Todd, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, etc. Season 8 first half was pretty dull and unfocused (lots of rehashing from previous seasons) but once Logan slithers back into the picture the season picks up exponentially! But I agree that the overkill of favorite characters has been a pet peeve of mine, especially Audrey in season 9.

My seasons, ranked:125473 (the first half is a bit slow, second half is awesome)8 (same as above)69

Added: March 04 2018 07:28:28 PM

Submitted byName: JeffFrom: USA

Comments:Speaking more of "24," my favorite seasons were actually #3 and #5. Season 3 had riveting moments when Jack Bauer got revenge for his wife Terri's murder when he finally killed Nina Meyers only moments after she could have killed Kim, Jack's daughter. Jack's famous line was "You don't have any more meaningful information for me, do you Nina"? as she lay on the ground after being shot initially by Jack. Nina was simultaneously trying to reach for her weapon to shoot Jack when he took matters into his own hands and shot her 3 times right in the chest.

The other riveting moments for me during Season 3 were when Jack, under orders from President David Palmer who in turn was being blackmailed by former MI6 agent Steven Saunders, brutally killed Ryan Chapelle, who technically was Jack's boss, and later when Sherry Palmer got shot dead by Senator Milliken's widow hours after the two were complicent in his death. At the time, even though Sherry technically was never the First Lady I probably wondered if it actually had been real, the ex-wife of a sitting President having a hand in murdering another human being would have been the biggest scandal to have ever occurred in the history of this country.

In season 5 the riveting moments occurred very early in episode 1 when ex-President David Palmer was assassinated in his hotel suite, a bullet fired across the street from a hitman going straight through his forehead as he looked outside while standing near a window. The other moment occurred when it was revealed that President Logan was complicit in not only being in cohoots with a rogue Russian team who were attempting to pull off terrorist acts against the U.S. but furthermore he was also involved in the assassination of former President Palmer, (because Palmer knew that Logan was in bed with this Russian terrorist team).

For me, Season 6 was terrible. The producers/writers/directors were even to admit later that everything that occured that season was just plain garbage added to the fact that so many events that occurred were never to be fully revealed. I recall that starting around Season 5, "24" did not begin airing episodes here in the U.S. until January in order to run consecutively through the end of the television season in mid/late May. There then was a writers' strike that then stopped all productions of television shows in the country. For essentially one full year, there were hardly any new shows that aired in the U.S.

After that was settled, then "24" aired its season 7, one year after it normally would have appeared on television. The entire season which was meant to be a vast improvement of Season 6 according to the scripts, in addition to which there was a special 2 hour episode that bridged Season 6 to Season 7 with an explanation as to what happened to Jack Bauer. Upset with his role in a lot of things that took place over the years, (including the fact that his own brother had a role in what took place in Season 5, essentially controlling President Logan and his father's complicity with what took place in Season 6) Jack left the country ending up in Africa.

For me, Season 7 was a vast improvement over Season 6 with for the first time a woman (played by Broadway actress Cherry Jones) being the POTUS. That season should have been the last one. But, as much as was the case with the original H 5-0, along with my other all-time favorite television shows "Perry Mason" from the late 50s/through the mid-60s, and the original Law and Order, "24" went a few seasons too long. The show drastically went downhill during Seasons 8 and 9, (which was really only 11 episodes with an 11 and a half hour jump in the final episode to make it appear as if events did take place over a 24 hour length in time.

Also BTW, Audrey's father Senator Heller who had become President during Season 9 was afflicted with Alzheimer's disease. Sadly, at the very last moments of the final episode, he had no clue or cognitive, rational thought that his own daugher Audrey had been brutally murdered.

As I've thought about it, there was one excellent moment that occurred in Season 8. Jack, having been coerced to get involved by Chloe instead of going back to California with his daughter, was trying to locate some key witnesses. The entire season was set around the NYC area. Well, Jack was in some neighborhood and a bunch of black kids were playing basketball. The kids, acting as if they were the baddest-acting gang in the history of this planet stopped their basketball game and questioned why Jack, obviously being Caucasian was in their neighborhood as he simply did not belong. Jack started to ask the kids, quite politely, if any of them had seen the couple that had gone missing. Several of the toughest gangbangers approached Jack as if they were about to seriously inflict physical harm on him. Jack, opened his jacket a little to reveal the nastiest looking semi-automatic weapons seen in the world. The not-so-tough members suddenly had their mouths drop to the ground as they realized that messing with Jack would have ended up being quite harmful to their very lives. For a fact Jack, who through many previous seasons had murdered some much tougher acting guys then those street punks, would have blown them away without a seconds' thought. It was funny that in asking for their cooperation, one of the kids told Jack that he had seen the couple, even pointing out the house in that neighborhood were they might be located. Jack ended up giving him some money for his cooperation . Those young punks obviously had no idea who they were messing with and would have ended up being seriously hurt or dead had they chosen to take on Jack Bauer.

I also have no comments about last season's reboot of "24". I believe that I watched one episode for about 3 minutes, thought it to be absolute junk and then switched to another channel. The Fox broadcasting company must have thought that the reboot of "24" during last season was a mistake as well. They did not bother to renew it this season as probably no one could accept last season's reboot as having anything to do with the original premise of "24." The character, a young African-American actor thought of as being similar to Jack Bauer obviously did a poor job in his role.

Added: March 04 2018 01:37:23 PM

Submitted byName: JeffFrom: USA

Comments:Mike, I know you have mentioned a handful of times to me that you were a regular viewer of "24" back when it aired between 2001 - 2013 or so.

Of course, the underlying theme to Jack Bauer's character was that after his wife Terri was brutally murdered just before the end of Season 1 by Nina Meyers, basically from that point forward any other woman that he got romantically involved with, especially FBI agent Renee Walker and Audrey Raines, were eventually murdered. In both instances it set off Bauer's fury to great heights.

Well, in a bit of an irony for the past two seasons Kiefer Sutherland has starred in the ABC show "Designated Survivor" playing the POTUS, Tom Kirkman. Kirkman only became the President as a result of a terrorist act during the President's State of the Union Address, practically all of Congress, Supreme Court branch, as well as both the President and Vice-President were all killed when a horrific bomb went off inside the Capitol Building. Kirkman, as is the actual case in the U.S. by law, was appointed as the "Designated Survivor" although up to that point it has never been needed in the history of this country.

[SPOILERS FOLLOW!]

Anyway, just before the show went on a hiatus partially due to the Olympics when shows on the competing networks up against NBC all did the same thing (including H 5-0), Kirkman's wife was cruelly killed by a man who was driving and texting as it ran a red line and plowed broadside into her limousine as she was heading back to the White House.

Then after this week's episode in previewing what will be upcoming the rest of the season I nearly fell out of my chair when there appeared Kim Raver who eventually will play a new role as some sort of advisor to Sutherland's Tom Kirkman. I was like WTH???

Please -- I sincerely hope as obviously Sutherland, who is co-producer of "Designated Survivor," and Kim Raver are apparently good friends in real life that in future episodes the two do not get involved in a relationship once he gets past his grieving for his wife. Viewers of the show who remember "24" would instaneously remember the tortured relationship that never reached fruition in marriage between Jack Bauer and Raver's Audrey Raines.

BTW, I always felt that "24" should have ended at the beginning of Season 8, perhaps a short carryover from Season 7 which I felt was the last great season of that series. Jack's daughter Kim, very much against Jack's wishes, ended up saving his life through a blood transfusion after he had been poisoned by the effects of chemical radiation.

I always felt that with his life saved, Jack should have just walked away from his job to instead go into retirement and be near his daughter Kim, her husband and their young baby boy. However if you know what happened, Jack could not help himself when asked to "help out" by Chloe O'Brian which led to that ridiculous entirety of Season 8 and later Season 9 [a shorter season also known as Live Another Day].

Season 8 had Renee Walker eventually shot to death by a Russian assassin moments after she made love for the first time after being reunited with Jack Bauer. Of course this royally pissed off Jack and led him to do what he did for the rest of that absurd season.

Season 9, if possible worse than Season 8, had Chloe in a rogue capacity and extremely pissed off following the murders of her husband Morris and young son. The actual terrorist for that season, some British woman and her daughter/son-in-law was stupid. Jack tossing this woman off of a balcony and her dying instantaneously when her head struck the concrete pavement was the only great moment of that season.

Audrey Raines, although now married to some guy who was in her father's cabinet (the father being the POTUS and the husband later branded a traitor to his country), gets murdered on orders from the same Chinese official who had been after both Jack and Audrey since Season 4. Jack is so enraged by Audrey's death that in a final fight he takes a monster-sized and very sharp sword. Jack completely decapitates the Chinese official, severing his head right off his body. Jack in exchange for Chloe who had been captured by the Russians, eventually agrees to surrender to them based on his actions in Season 8 and that's the last you hear of Mr. Bauer. That is until he is reincarnated as Tom Kirkman and becomes the POTUS last season, LOL!

"Designated Survivor" is an excellent show, IMO -- much better than the mess that is the current version of H 5-0. However, if Kiefer Sutherland and Kim Raver's characters, with him now being a widower, somehow slowly get involved in a romantic relationship, that would be absurd -- along the lines of Steve McGarrett and Danny Williams actually opening their Italian restaurant.

Added: March 04 2018 01:27:18 PM

Submitted byName: ringfire211From: Philadelphia

Comments:Mr. Mike, they’re out there....

Added: February 21 2018 03:22:01 PM

Submitted byName: Mr. MikeFrom: Vancouver

Comments:Seriously off-topic:

Last night, I came into the other room in my basement where I found my cell phone was ringing over and over. Typically if somebody phones me and I am not around to answer it, the phone goes to voice mail after about 5 or 6 rings, but it would not stop. What was even worse -- there is an interface with the phone app where I can answer the phone or hang up the call, but this was not showing. It was more like the "second page" of the app, and I could not get back to the main page, no matter what I did. I had to reboot the phone to stop it from ringing. Even this made me worried, because while the rebooting was going on, the phone kept ringing far too long. Eventually it did reboot and the ringing stopped. It looks like this mysterious number (604-210-6652) had left a voice mail message but it was only a few seconds long and there was actually no message, just some ambient noise in the background -- very strange. Later I Googled the number, which revealed that others had also reported being called (almost 400 people) and they categorized the call as either a "scammer" or "telemarketer." Looking at my phone logs, it looks like the phone may have been ringing for 12 or 13 minutes in total. It's almost as if the phone was taken over by some mysterious entity. All of this is happening while I'm watching a second season X-Files episode which was about some mysterious entity taking control in an old folks' home, by the way.

Added: February 21 2018 09:27:30 AM

Submitted byName: ringfire211From: Philadelphia

Comments:I don’t know who that is but that ain’t no Magnum.

P.S. And where’s the stache?? Though I suppose in this day and age Magnum wouldn’t have a stache. He’d have abundant facial hair.

Comments:Oh no, season 4 is the season that hooked me! That’s when I started watching the show. It’s still one of my favorites. I loved Arnold Vosloo as Habib Marwan and especially Mia Kirshner as the femme fatale assassin Mandy! William Devane as Secretary of Defense James Heller was a great addition as was Kim Raver as his daughter Audrey. The suburban Muslim family that turned out to be terrorists was a great touch. Nestor Serrano and Shoreh Aghdashloo were superb in their performances! That was also the first season without Kim who I think we had had enough of. What I especially loved about the season is that it started somewhat new and fresh (a slight reboot, if you will) with a mostly new cast (with the exception of Chloe who was in season 3), but then as the season progressed they slowly brought back our favorite characters. First Tony, who comes to Jack’s rescue in spectacular fashion. Then Michelle, which immediately leads to friction with Tony (which only makes their later reconciliation that much more moving and powerful). Then our favorite ex-President Palmer, who comes to the aid of VP Logan who can’t lead the country after the president goes down in Air Force One. And of course along with Palmer we see the return of Mike Novick and Aaron Pierce (such underrated characters, especially Novick!). The conspiracy then at the end to eliminate Bauer (tacitly approved by Logan to eliminate any embarrassment with the Chinese embassy fiasco) is the icing on the cake. Palmer warning Bauer and then saying his goodbyes to him (this would be the last time they would speak - we know what happens at the start of season 5) and Jack walking off into the sunrise along the railroad tracks (with Sean Callery’s swelling score) is one of my favorite endings in the series, if not my favorite. I always thought that would have been a perfect series finale. It’s definitely better than what we ultimately got. Oh and how about the sacrificial death of Paul Raines, Audrey’s husband? What a wallop that scene was! So yeah season 4 is a very emotional experience for me. Plus it’s such a great segue into season 5.

Ultimately seasons 1 and 2 and then 4 and 5 are my favorites. 1 leads perfectly into 2 and 4 into 5. The other seasons aren’t as fluid or consistent for me. Though 7 and 3 would be next on my list. Then 8 (second half was great, thanks to Logan’s return) and finally 6. That was definitely the weakest. Some fine individual episodes but they don’t add up to much as a whole. The season storyline as a whole is a mess. Basically Jack’s daddy and brother were the masterminds behind Logan and the whole cabal from season 5. Yes Peter Weller was answering to Jack’s kinfolk too. Yeah right, puhleeze! That’s like saying that George W. Bush answered to Cheney and Rumsfeld and those 2 answered to my mom and dad (who were the REAL string-pullers). Yeah, uh-huh, right. And the season finale finds Jack chasing his daddy (James Cromwell, who looks nothing like Kiefer) and the Chinese on an oil rig while trying to rescue his little nephew who Papa Bauer wants to take with him to China. And I’m like what the heck is this garbage?????? Who wrote this crap?? How did we get from the Logan conspiracy to some soap opera family squabble involving a kid? Definitely smells like Lenkov, even though apparently he wasn’t involved in this season. Whatever it was it was really lame!!!

Added: February 13 2018 09:27:30 PM

Submitted byName: Mr. MikeFrom: Vancouver

Comments:Ringfire, did you think that "24" ever started to get bad? You mention season 6; I don't remember that one specifically, though I have watched a couple of seasons more than once (I used to own the actual DVDs of seasons 1-3). I always thought that season 4 was where "24" started to go in the dumper, and guess who was associated with that season? Yes, the Reboot King himself!

I never had a problem with the absurdities of the show. I remember there was one episode where people had to go from the naval station at Point Mugu, which is about a 2-hour drive to downtown Los Angeles and they took a lot less time than that. The Internet company where I worked actually provided service to Point Mugu.

The thing that bothered me the most about Kim was when she was suddenly a geek working at CTU with no explanation as to how she achieved this status. These days, Elisha Cuthbert seems to largely retired from the world of entertainment. Pity!

Added: February 13 2018 04:35:00 PM

Submitted byName: Mr. MikeFrom: Vancouver

Comments:Just released by Warner Archive:

THE LAZARUS MAN: THE COMPLETE SERIES (1996)

Robert Urich stars as The Lazarus Man in this unique Western mystery thriller about a man's quest for vengeance... and his own identity. After the close of the Civil War on Halloween night, a stranger that would come to be called Lazarus digs his way out of the grave - alive. Nursed back to health, his memory remains shattered - fragments and visions of a past filled with menace like the "Derby Hat Man," and promises like the "Dark-Haired Woman" who pledged her devotion. And so the Lazarus Man rides alone, in search of his own dark past.

Added: February 13 2018 04:17:33 PM

Submitted byName: ringfire211From: Philadelphia

Comments:Ok, I figured you wouldn’t be interested. Just thought I’d throw it out there. We’re always giving you suggestions of old shows. In the meantime I totally forgot about “24”.

Added: February 13 2018 12:52:28 PM

Submitted byName: Mr. MikeFrom: Vancouver

Comments:Yes, Ringfire, I was a fan of "24," and watched it to the bitter end -- at least all of the shows starring Kiefer.

But the answer to your suggestion that I should do a WWW site for this is, as you expected, a big fat "NO!" What would the point of this be? The show has already been analyzed to death, having started in 2001. There are books about the show itself, its cultural significance, etc., etc. I'm sure there are WWW sites too, aside from IMDb. By the way, although IMDb closed down their discussion forums, if you have some crackpot opinions about the show (I'm not talking about you personally), you can still submit them under "User Reviews"!

When I did some of my "anal-ytical" sites, I checked first to see if anyone else had already covered them. I would like to do Danger Man/Secret Agent, the Patrick McGoohan show, for example, but there are already people in England, where the show was made, who have looked at the show in great detail, including stuff like shooting locations and other trivia.

Kojak, The Invaders and Peter Gunn -- shows which I have done -- all had little or no coverage, at least as far as sites which were totally devoted to them were concerned. Streets of San Francisco, I discovered when I started my site, has another site (http://thestreetsofsanfrancisco.net), but the person in charge does not go into detail in the manner which I do.

When I had DVDs of the David Janssen show Harry O (which I have since sold), I did a couple of episodes which you can see here: http://www.mjq.net/harryo -- this series is a classic example of how executive and other meddling can totally derail a series (which has been covered by Ric Meyers in his book Murder on the Air: Television's Great Mystery Series -- see http://fiveohomepage.com/meyers.htm for his chapter on Five-O). I also did a few episodes of Ironside (at http://ironsidetv.com -- waste of another domain name!), before I decided that there were too many episodes and the show was just too "meh." And the premise of The Sentinel, a show I was interested in for a few minutes, was really dumb, even if there were only four seasons to deal with (and I found the episode where my family were extras, even though they are not seen).

Added: February 13 2018 09:17:32 AM

Submitted byName: ringfire211From: Philadelphia

Comments:Hey Mike, if ever you need a challenge maybe you could review my other favorite show “24” (which I understand you were a fan of as well) I call it a challenge because unlike all your other shows that you’ve reviewed this one is heavily serialized. So it’s a different format than what you’re used to. Rating each episode might be a challenge because each episode is part of an overall season-long story. Each episode is integral to the main story as a whole. Some episodes may cover more than others or might be more gripping or exciting than others, but no episode will be outright bad or unnecessary or crappy for whatever reason. Typically the season as a whole might be lackluster (as was the case with season 6) but it’s difficult to single out a particular episode as being bad. Once the roller coaster starts it’s pretty darn exciting to the very end! And you can’t complain about stupid stuff like carguments or Spiderman feats like scaling skyscrapers or beers on the beach. I suppose you could complain about the Kim scenes, if those bother you. I was never too bothered by them. There was always enough tension to look past them.

Anyway, food for thought... though I imagine I know what your answer might be

Added: February 12 2018 11:16:42 PM

Submitted byName: ringfire211From: Philadelphia

Comments:I’m a big DIE HARD fan and I actually really enjoyed Len Wiseman’s LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD. A great hard-hitting old school action flick! His Five-Zero pilot? Nope, not so much.

As for Justin Lin? I have no time for him or his yearly FAST AND FURIOUS junk output.

CBS has now reached the Magnum P.I. and Cagney & Lacey stage of its TV reboot addiction

Like a depressed shut-in, drowning their anxieties in the muted pleasures of an endless series of ’80s reruns, CBS only wants to watch Magnum P.I. and Cagney And Lacey right now. This is per Variety, which reports that the network announced today that it was ordering pilots for series reboots of both of the classic TV dramas, which both ran for multiple seasons in the mid-1980s.

We first caught wind of the Magnum reboot last year, with Peter Lenkov—whose other recent credits include semi-successful TV dumpster dives like Hawaii Five-0 and MacGyver —bringing everybody’s favorite mustachioed former-Navy SEAL back to Hawaii, and TV. Cagney & Lacey, meanwhile, comes courtesy of Westworld producer Bridget Carpenter, who hopefully won’t have to work quite as hard as the show’s original producers—who faced multiple recastings, and even an outright cancellation—to help the female-led cop show find its sea legs. (Speaking of women in uniform, CBS also ordered a pilot for Chiefs, about three women in charge of individual police precincts in L.A. County.)

(Read the comments to the article...)

Added: January 29 2018 09:05:10 AM

Submitted byName: FredFrom: Chatsworth, CA

Comments:Mike,

Not only did you have Season 5 ahead of Season 2, Jason and I did as well. In fact, my season rankings were the exact same as your chart. Season 2 is good. But, lots of average episodes.

But, as much as we bash Season 5 and Richard Hatch on this board, I can see Ringfire's point.

Added: January 28 2018 07:53:48 PM

Submitted byName: ringfire211From: Philadelphia

Comments:Mike, see if you can knock down a rating for another season 5 episode.

Added: January 28 2018 03:43:32 PM

Submitted byName: Mr. MikeFrom: Vancouver

Comments:Ringfire, you are concerned that season five has a "higher" rating than season 2 (yeah, like it was .02 more!). It has the same rating as season two now exactly, because I reduced the rating for one season 5 episode.

Here is the breakdown of number of episodes in each season per particular ratings. Maybe there is some mathematical significance to this. You will see that there are the same number of "outstanding" episodes (rated 3.5 and 4.0) in both seasons, actually.

Season 22.0 - 22.5 - 123.0 - 33.5 - 44.0 - 2

Season 51.0 - 11.5 - 12.0 - 32.5 - 43.0 - 83.5 - 44.0 - 2

Added: January 28 2018 12:59:05 PM

Submitted byName: John ChergiFrom: Pittsburgh PA

Comments:RINGFIRE Agree with you on Most Likely To Succeed. I finally watched the episode on my Season 4 DVD set before Christmas. It's just an incredible episode. Up there with The Takers and Mask Of Death. I thought it was a remarkable family and episode. The Chemistry teacher allowed Paul to have his say but the grades had to be calculated. There's few flaws in the episode. When Paul went crazy, it was an amazing scene. A good lawyer and psychologist might have given Paul some kind of insanity defense. Would have loved to see a trial. Season 5-Top 5. 1.Monkey Is Back 2.Til Death Do Us Part 3.Hot Dog 4.Breakup 5.Dead Or Alive. The only weaker episodes Season 5...The Canine Collar, No Minor Vices, and Child Of Anger. I thought A Good Cop But...Was handled with maturity and Lambert an excellent cop. I liked how his partner Bell was angry about the finding out. Stone was more tolerant on Lambert's sexuality than I thought he would be. JC

Added: January 26 2018 03:09:57 PM

Submitted byName: ringfire211From: Philadelphia

Comments:Season 4:

1. Most Likely to Succeed2. School of Fear3. Judgment Day4. Police Buff5. The Glass Dartboard

I agree that season 4 was another strong season, though I can’t quite narrow down my top 10 - same as with seasons 1 and 2.

What I can’t understand though is folks placing season 5 ahead of 2. I enjoyed 5 just fine (even with Rich Hatch as the replacement) but I certainly didn’t think it was stronger than what came before. Hatch alone is reason enough to lower this one. But even looking past Hatch I don’t think any one episode really stood out. Maybe “The Drop” because I like kidnap stories or “Dead Lift” because it’s Ah-nuld. I liked “Breakup” with Pernell Roberts too. But I wouldn’t really call any episode in that season outstanding. Certainly nothing as suspenseful as “For the Love of God” or “The Blockade” or even “Chapel of the Damned” which had the creepy Signe Hasso (especially when she blows the other guy away with a shotgun while made up like a man).

Comments:Great Streets of SF list Fred. The Glass Dartboard---I like the PERT chart and watching Stone show some anger especially when the stakeout goes sour. Suspenseful! Police Buff and Judgment Day are 2 of my FAV. Both Bill Bixby and Michael Burns nail their characters. They are memorable even 40+ years later. Streets of SF had a better depth of episodes than it gets credit for. I think had it went to 8 or 10 years probably even more celebrated. Haven't watched Charlie Blake in awhile. Can't figure it out myself.JC

I also enjoy Web of Lies, Clown of Death & The Glass Dart Board (Sorry John. "Dart Board" doesn't make my season's top 11, let alone top 5 for the entire series. But I do like the episode).

I agree with Jason. Season 4 is very good. Second on my list. But I would go 1, 4, 3, 5, 2.

Judgement Day might have sneaked in if it wasn't a retread script of "For the Love of God".

Maybe Mr. Mike could re-watch "School of Fear" as long as he's re-watching "Charlie Blake".

Last note. After successful "nice guy", lead roles in My Favorite Martian and The Courtship of Eddie's Father, you would think that it would be tough to get into Bill Bixby playing a tough guy or a psycho as he did in "Target: Red" and "Police Buff". But he nails both roles.

Added: January 25 2018 04:55:14 PM

Submitted byName: Mr. MikeFrom: Vancouver

Comments:John, as to your question about whether I rewatched the Charlie Blake episode, the answer is NO. I spent far too much time on this show, watching it multiple times and am not interested in it any more. Maybe you have some ideas?